Living Ethics : An Introduction

by Minch,Michael

• ISBN13: 9780495090236
• ISBN10: 0495090239
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-02-13
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

Minch and Weigel's LIVING ETHICS demonstrates that ethics are not a set of abstract exercises, but powerful and deeply personal questions about what it means to lead a good life. Rather than separating theory and applied ethics, this unique text focuses on the practical, experiential value of ethical reflection. You will never again view ethics as a set of technical games that apply only to narrowly defined cases or political controversies that don't affect you. Instead, the book organizes study around a range of basic human activities that have ethical significance, such as learning, loving, reasoning, and relating. This comprehensive anthology offers a breadth of readings that integrates feminist and multicultural viewpoints for a broader range of perspectives and genres than any other text in this field. You'll find extensive literary, journalistic, and other texts outside of traditional academic philosophy. LIVING ETHICS's focus on contemporary issues and interdisciplinary selections makes the study of ethics relevant and accessible no matter what your major. With the help of the text's effective learning tools, you can confidently approach philosophical questions for the first time and comprehend even the most challenging material. Introductions before each selection highlight crucial themes, while Reading Guides, Critical Thinking and extensive review questions, and Dialogue features focus on fundamental arguments, clarify key concepts, and compare ideas from various readings in the book. Innovative online learning tools further emphasize the relevance and value of the text's material to your everyday life.

Table of Contents

Learning

What is the function of education? Plato, from The Republic

Krishnamurti, "The Function of Education." Oakeshott, from The Voice Of Liberal Learning

Hooks, "Ecstasy" from Teaching To Transgress

Dangarembga, from Nervous Conditions

Snyder, "Axe Handles."

Reasoning

What is the relationship between reasoning and ethics? Aristotle, from Nicomachean Ethics

Kant, from Foundations Of The Metaphysics Of Morals

Mill, from Utilitarianism

Nietzsche, from Beyond Good And Evil

Lloyd, from The Man Of Reason

Whitt, from "Indigenous Peoples and the Cultural Politics of Knowledge." Pinches, from Theology In Action

Ibsen, from An Enemy Of The People

Feeling

What is the relationship between emotions and ethics? Hume, from Enquiry

Ayer, from LANGUAGE, Truth, And Logic

Piper, from "Passing for White, Passing for Black." Damasio, from Looking For Spinoza

Cummings, "since feeling is first." Kingsolver, "Covered Bridges."

Flourishing

How might we best live? Aristotle, from Nicomachean Ethics

MacIntyre, from After Virtue

Kallenberg, "Cultivating Moral Taste." Kupperman, "The Place of Character in Ethics" in Character

Nussbaum, "Victims and Agents." Gransberg, "38 Who Saw Murder and Didn't Call Police." Berry, "To Hayden Carruth."

Believing

How does religious belief help make sense of existence? Plato, from the Euthyphro

Augustine, from The City Of God

Nielson, from "Ethics Without Religion." Mavrodes, from "Religion and the Queerness of Morality." Nietzsche, from The Gay Science

Dillard, from "An Expedition to the Pole." Cockburn, "Lord of the Starfields" (poem)

Relating

What is the ethical significance of difference? Herodotus, "Custom is King." Midgley, "Trying Out One's Sword." Taylor, from "Ethical Relativism." Pojman, "The Case Against Ethical Relativism." Furrow, "Of Cave Dwellers and Spirits: The Trouble with Moral Absolutes." Johnson, from The Gender Knot

Fadiman, from "Do Doctors Eat Brains?" in The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down

Berry, "My Great-Grandfather's Slaves" (poem)

Cooperating

How can people best live together? The Social Contract

From Hobbes

From Locke

From Rousseau

From Kant

Equality and Justice

Mencius, "Justice and Humanity." Plato, from The Republic

Walzer, "A Credo for this Moment."

Schweikart, "Capitalism and Its Discontents."

Rawls, "The Principles of Justice."

Singer, "Famine, Affluence, and Morality."

Pogge, "The Moral Demands of Global Justice."

Tecumseh, "We Must Be United."

Newton, "Reverse Discrimination as Unjustified."

Fish, "Reverse Racism, or How the Pot Got to Call the Kettle Black."

Robinson, "America's Debt to Blacks."

Sawhill, "Still the Land of Opportunity?"

Churchill, "Perversions of Justice: Examining the Doctrine of U.S

Rights to Occupancy in North America." Bales, from Disposable People: New Slavery In The Global Economy

Jacobsen, "The Net of Complicity" (poem)

Confronting

What are ethical dimensions of conflict?

Minch, "When Soldiers Aren't Heroes."

Hashmi, "Interpreting the Islamic Ethics of War and Peace."

Holmes, "The Alternative to War" in On War And Morality

Gandhi, "The Law of Love,"

"Non-Violence--The Law of Our Species,"

"The Spirit of Non-Violence."

Thich Nhat Hanh, "Being Peace."

Granhoff, "Peace and Security."

Sterba, "Terrorism and International Justice."

Leiser, "The Case for Iraq War II."

Berry, "Thoughts in the Presence of Fear."

Hauerwas, "September 11, 2001: A Pacifist Response."

Berrigan, from "We Have Assumed the Name of Peacemakers."

Owen, "Dulce Et Decorm Est" (poem)

Loving

What are ethical dimensions of love? Aristotle, from Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII

Mo Tzu, "Universal Love." Baier, "Moral Prejudices." Stassen and David P

Gushee, Kingdom Ethics

Thomas, from Living Morally

Ruth, from Issues In Feminism

Rich, "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence."

Reyes and DeMeulenaere, "Companeros."

Auden, "Alone."

Hall, "Cider 5? a Glass."

Caring How and why should we care for others? What do the concepts of care and compassion teach us about life? Gilligan, from In A Different Voice

Noddings, from Caring

Hallie, "From Cruelty to Goodness."

Mead, from "Genealogy, Sacredness, and the Commodities Market."

Hursthouse, from "Virtue Theory and Abortion."

Wolf, "A Feminist Critique of Physician-Assisted Suicide."

Battin, "The Case for Euthanasia."

Warren, "The Moral Significance of Birth."

Shelley, from Frankenstein

Irving, from The Cider House Rules

Working

What are ethical dimensions of work? Locke, from Second Tretise Of Government

Smith, from The Wealth Of Nations

Marx and Engels, from Economic And Philosophic Manuscripts Of 1844, The Communist Manifesto

Russell, from In Praise Of Idleness

hooks, from Feminist Theory: From Margin To Center

Schumacher, "Buddhist Economics." Shipler, from The Working Poor: Invisible In America

Berry, "Two Economies."

Consuming

What are some ethical dimensions of consumption? Aurelius, from Meditations

Twitchell, "Two Cheers for Capitalism." Durning, from How Much Is Enough? The Consumer Society And The Future Of The Earth

McGuire, from "Population, Consumption, Ecology: The Triple Problematic." Segal, from Graceful Simplicity: Toward A Philosophy And Politics Of Simple Living

Cavanaugh, "When Enough is Enough." Unknown, "In a tiny Mexican village?."

Creating

What can artworks reveal about the art of living? Pater, from The Renaissance: Studies In Art And Poetry

Nietzsche, from Twilight Of The Idols

Dewey, from Art As Experience

Finkelpearl, from Dialogues In Public Art

Minatoya, from The Strangeness Of Beauty

Existing

What is the meaning of existence? From Bhagavad-Gita

Kierkegaard, "The Present Age." Nietzsche, from Twilight Of The Idols

Sartre, from Existentialism Is A Humanism

Tillich, from The Courage To Be

Camus, from The Stranger

Shonagon, from The Pillow Book

Kafka, from A Country Doctor ("Before the Law")

Dying

What is the meaning of death? Plato, from the Phaedo

Epicurus, from Letters

Frankl, from Man's Search For Meaning

Beauvoir, from A Very Easy Death

Revel and Ricard, "Buddhism and Death" from The Monk And The Philosopher

Bluebond-Langner, from The Private Worlds Of Dying Children

Marquis, "Why Abortion Is Immoral." Harjo, "The Woman Hanging From the Thirteenth Floor Window."

Extending Ethics

Does ethics extend beyond humankind? Leopold, from "The Land Ethic"

Taylor, from "The Ethics of Respect for Nature."

Rolston, from "Naturalizing Values: Organisms and Species."

Naess, "The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecological Movement."

Singer, "All Animals are Equal."

Steinbock, "Speciesism and the Idea of Equality."

McKibben, "A Special Moment in History: The Challenge of Overpopulation and Overconsumption."

Shiva, "The Impoverishment of the Environment: Women and Children Last."

Hawken, "A Declaration of Sustainability." Baxter, from People Or Penguins? The Case For Optimal Pollution

Hiebert, "The Human Vocation: Origins and Transformations in Christian Traditions." "The Rio Declaration." Oliver, "Wild Geese" (poem)

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